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Thursday, July 28, 2016

Now Is The Time To Discuss America's Wars Since 9/11

Lance Cpl. Nilton Castro, a radio operator with 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, along with two Afghan Army soldiers walk past the Helmand River while on patrol in Gowragi, Afghanistan, during a clearing operation, Sept. 29, 2010. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Mark Fayloga

Task & Purpose spoke with former State Department official John Kael Weston about his time working seven straight years alongside combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In 2010, John Kael Weston came home after seven years as a State Department official and advisor in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over the next two summers, he visited 31 gravesites across the United States.

The graves belonged to Marines killed in a January 2005 helicopter crash in Iraq. A State Department official in Fallujah at the time, Weston advocated for additional military support in locations away from major population centers. The 30 Marines and one Navy Corpsman killed were enroute to provide security for the elections.

The tragedy has stayed with Weston for years and is detailed in his war memoir, called “The Mirror Test: America At War In Iraq And Afghanistan.”

For some reason my previous post did not take. This is a very intersting article. While I've read a number of simillar articles, a serious discussion on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is clearly needed. The operative word here is "serious."

Some of the questions that need to be asked are 1.) "was the Iraq war the proper decision but was poorly executed?", 2.) "had we committed enough resources to Iraq in the early stages to provide proper security could Iraqi lives been saved and might Iraqi democracy have succeeded?", 3.) "Why was our intellegence on Iraqi WMD wrong?", and 4.) Why did US Intelligence fail to anticipate the attacks on 9/11?"

In the case of 1-3, the "Bush lied" narrative has stunted a proper investigation into this. In the case of 4, the obession with conspiracy theories involving the Saudis has prevented a proper investigation into this. For what it's worth, Saudia Arabia is a VERY BAD country and should not be supported.

"Not going to happen." Very respectfully I would never say never. While we cannot "know" for certain what President Trump will do, we can make educated observations based upon one what one has done in the past and their current statements.

Under President Trump US foreign and domestic policy will change significantly. As for foreign policy, it is going to mean significantly less involvement on the part of America and this will happen in short order. As for domestic policy, it will mean less regulation, more drilling for oil and gas domestically, incentives for US companies to bring manufacturing to the US, and massive welfare reform (no work, no eat).

Whether this is going to work out better for Americans remains to be seen. What is clear is significant changes will be coming.

In 2012, with the release of the last classified documents of the Rand Study known as The Pentagon Papers, we learned that the whole purpose of the Vietnam War, started 67 years earlier, that had ended 47 years earlier, was:

"To contain an expansionist Red China".

Basically, the idiots in the US Government thought that the First Indochina War and the Second Indochina was was solely the product of Red China trying to gobble up lands in South East Asia.

Over 55,000 Americans and well over 2 million South East Asian's died, because the US Leaders had zero knowledge of the history, geopolitics, nationalism and the effects of Colonialism on South East Asia.

"There are other differences that suggest that peacekeeping requirements in Iraq might be much lower than historical experience in the Balkans suggests. There's been none of the record in Iraq of ethnic militias fighting one another that produced so much bloodshed and permanent scars in Bosnia along with the requirement for large policing forces to separate those militias. And the horrors of Iraq are very different from the horrific ethnic cleansing of Kosovars by Serbs that took place in Kosovo and left scars that continue to require peacekeeping forces today in Kosovo. The slaughter in Iraq—and it's been substantial—has unfortunately been the slaughter of people of all ethnic and religious groups by the regime. It is equal opportunity terror."

Paul Wolfowitz is a complete idiot who will either face extensive prison time under the Trump Administration, exeuction by the Russians and Chinese, or being allowed to live while facing utter humilitiation. I think the last option is most likely as neither Mr. Trump nor his successor will want the risk of another Paul F!ncking Wolfowitz or his ilk to have ANY influence over American foreign policy ever again.

I suspect Paul f!cking Wolfowitz will be allowed to live out his life in an insane asylum. At least he should hope so.

As for China and gobbling up South East Asia, assuming China wanted this shich it probably does ththe United States cou,d ever do to prevent it. The United States can still adjust and act accordingly.

I noticed the analysis by Paul F!cking Wolfowitz happened and was stated before the Iraq war. I think it highly likely the Bush Administration foolishly trusted in such foolish advice. A number of Americans grasp this and hate Paul F!ing Wolfowitz.

Again a full analysis of all of this and how it all happened will probably need to await Mr. Trump's handpicked succesor. At this point the default position is it all America's fault and if pnly America would be more subservient all would be well is the prevelant view. So far this hasn't worked.

To release such documents will probably reveal some justification for the Iraq war. As such, no one in the mainstream establishment wants any part of this. To. Release these documents would be most complicated.

To reveal "why Iraq" would mean publically acknowledging the survival threat Saddam's Iraq threat posed to America. Perhaps such isn't entirely America's fault. To do either of these things could be quite devastating to those one's political ideology.

As such, a full investigation of these things can probably only be done by Mr. Trump's handpicked success. As for the current electoral cycle Mr. Trump has "wisely" chosen the mainstream.

In time, reality can be sought after. I'm pretty sure America's future President Donald Trump understands reality. I certain.y pray and hope so.

"Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over'

NEWS January 17, 2001VOL 43 ISSUE 01 · Politics · Government · George W. Bush · Clinton AdministrationWASHINGTON, DC–Mere days from assuming the presidency and closing the door on eight years of Bill Clinton, president-elect George W. Bush assured the nation in a televised address Tuesday that "our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity is finally over."

"My fellow Americans," Bush said, "at long last, we have reached the end of the dark period in American history that will come to be known as the Clinton Era, eight long years characterized by unprecedented economic expansion, a sharp decrease in crime, and sustained peace overseas. The time has come to put all of that behind us."

Bush swore to do "everything in [his] power" to undo the damage wrought by Clinton's two terms in office, including selling off the national parks to developers, going into massive debt to develop expensive and impractical weapons technologies, and passing sweeping budget cuts that drive the mentally ill out of hospitals and onto the street.

During the 40-minute speech, Bush also promised to bring an end to the severe war drought that plagued the nation under Clinton, assuring citizens that the U.S. will engage in at least one Gulf War-level armed conflict in the next four years.

"You better believe we're going to mix it up with somebody at some point during my administration," said Bush, who plans a 250 percent boost in military spending. "Unlike my predecessor, I am fully committed to putting soldiers in battle situations. Otherwise, what is the point of even having a military?"

On the economic side, Bush vowed to bring back economic stagnation by implementing substantial tax cuts, which would lead to a recession, which would necessitate a tax hike, which would lead to a drop in consumer spending, which would lead to layoffs, which would deepen the recession even further.

Wall Street responded strongly to the Bush speech, with the Dow Jones industrial fluctuating wildly before closing at an 18-month low. The NASDAQ composite index, rattled by a gloomy outlook for tech stocks in 2001, also fell sharply, losing 4.4 percent of its total value between 3 p.m. and the closing bell.

Asked for comment about the cooling technology sector, Bush said: "That's hardly my area of expertise."

"See a professional you are clinically insane." Very respectfully no I'm not. Saddam's Iraq did pose an existential threat to America that was growing. This is part of the context that will need to be considered when analyzing this. To deny reality or make up reality to suit one's desires might make one insane. Since I refuse to do either of these things, I cannot be insane and would have no use or need for mental health professional.

I probably should clarify "survival threat." Saddam's operatives in the US would have eventually taken over large parts of the country and/or detonated multiple dirty bombs and/ or suitcase nuclear weapons killing 10s of millions of Americans.

With that said perhaps another way could have been found to deal with Iraq. I think we can agree the proper debate on this is not going to happen right now.

Thanks for the link to the onion article. It was very interesting. For what it's worth, Mr. Trump's presidency is going to mean the complete repudiation of all policies related to Mr. Bush. Mr. Bush and his team left office as the most universally despised people in American history.

About Me

I have been involved in numerous computer science projects since the 1980s, as well as developing numerous web projects since 1996.
These blogs are a summation of all the information that I read and catalog pertaining to the subjects that interest me.